Many students are entering college today with twelve years of exposure to what Paulo Freire (1990) calls \"Banking Education\". In banking education, the teacher assumes the role of depositor of the dominant discourse's \"Truths\". Teachers take on the role of subject, and the students remain the object of the educational process. Because of its hegemonic nature, this kind of education renders many students voiceless, marginalized and \"underprepared\". These students are educated, but with a domesticating rather than a liberating or empowering education, and a functional rather than a powerful literacy (Finn, 1999). They do \"know,\" but they do not know how or why they know or how to critically weave their knowledge into meaningful action.
Through this critical action research. I used critical pedagogy to introduce marginalized students to the potential power of critical literacy. I hoped to ascertain if, through such an introduction the students would, indeed, become empowered. The data source that drove the research, as well as the course, were the continual discussions which Freire refers to in Pedagogy of the Oppressed as \"the essence of education as a practice of freedom\" (1998. p.8).
I found that even this elementary introduction to critical literacy through critical pedagogy gave these students a new faith in their own potential. One semester of introduction to such a perspective laid the framework from which the students were empowered to continue on their own.
","abstract_html":"<p>Many students are entering college today with twelve years of exposure to what Paulo Freire (1990) calls "Banking Education". In banking education, the teacher assumes the role of depositor of the dominant discourse's "Truths". Teachers take on the role of subject, and the students remain the object of the educational process. Because of its hegemonic nature, this kind of education renders many students voiceless, marginalized and "underprepared". These students are educated, but with a domesticating rather than a liberating or empowering education, and a functional rather than a powerful literacy (Finn, 1999). They do "know," but they do not know how or why they know or how to critically weave their knowledge into meaningful action.</p> <p>Through this critical action research. I used critical pedagogy to introduce marginalized students to the potential power of critical literacy. I hoped to ascertain if, through such an introduction the students would, indeed, become empowered. The data source that drove the research, as well as the course, were the continual discussions which Freire refers to in Pedagogy of the Oppressed as "the essence of education as a practice of freedom" (1998. p.8).</p> <p>I found that even this elementary introduction to critical literacy through critical pedagogy gave these students a new faith in their own potential. One semester of introduction to such a perspective laid the framework from which the students were empowered to continue on their own.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hanschke, Josephine Bush"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies","degree_level":"Dissertation (restricted to Georgia Southern)","degree_discipline":"Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Gregory Dmitriyev","Dorothy A. Battle","Gary Hytrek"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2001,"date_issued":"2001-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2001-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:28:00Z","subjects":["ETD","Paulo Freire","Banking education","Critical pedagogy","Curriculum and Instruction","Curriculum and Social Inquiry","Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research","Educational Methods"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd_legacy/178","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Gregory Dmitriyev","Dorothy A. Battle","Gary Hytrek"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hanschke, Josephine Bush"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["1970-01-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation (restricted to Georgia Southern)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ETD","Paulo Freire","Banking education","Critical pedagogy","Curriculum and Instruction","Curriculum and Social Inquiry","Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research","Educational Methods"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd_legacy/178"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Many students are entering college today with twelve years of exposure to what Paulo Freire (1990) calls \"Banking Education\". In banking education, the teacher assumes the role of depositor of the dominant discourse's \"Truths\". Teachers take on the role of subject, and the students remain the object of the educational process. Because of its hegemonic nature, this kind of education renders many students voiceless, marginalized and \"underprepared\". These students are educated, but with a domesticating rather than a liberating or empowering education, and a functional rather than a powerful literacy (Finn, 1999). They do \"know,\" but they do not know how or why they know or how to critically weave their knowledge into meaningful action.
Through this critical action research. I used critical pedagogy to introduce marginalized students to the potential power of critical literacy. I hoped to ascertain if, through such an introduction the students would, indeed, become empowered. The data source that drove the research, as well as the course, were the continual discussions which Freire refers to in Pedagogy of the Oppressed as \"the essence of education as a practice of freedom\" (1998. p.8).
I found that even this elementary introduction to critical literacy through critical pedagogy gave these students a new faith in their own potential. One semester of introduction to such a perspective laid the framework from which the students were empowered to continue on their own.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Putting Critical Theory into Practice through Action Research"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Gregory Dmitriyev","Dorothy A. Battle","Gary Hytrek"],"dc:creator":["Hanschke, Josephine Bush"],"dc:date.available":["1970-01-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Many students are entering college today with twelve years of exposure to what Paulo Freire (1990) calls \"Banking Education\". In banking education, the teacher assumes the role of depositor of the dominant discourse's \"Truths\". Teachers take on the role of subject, and the students remain the object of the educational process. Because of its hegemonic nature, this kind of education renders many students voiceless, marginalized and \"underprepared\". These students are educated, but with a domesticating rather than a liberating or empowering education, and a functional rather than a powerful literacy (Finn, 1999). They do \"know,\" but they do not know how or why they know or how to critically weave their knowledge into meaningful action.
Through this critical action research. I used critical pedagogy to introduce marginalized students to the potential power of critical literacy. I hoped to ascertain if, through such an introduction the students would, indeed, become empowered. The data source that drove the research, as well as the course, were the continual discussions which Freire refers to in Pedagogy of the Oppressed as \"the essence of education as a practice of freedom\" (1998. p.8).
I found that even this elementary introduction to critical literacy through critical pedagogy gave these students a new faith in their own potential. One semester of introduction to such a perspective laid the framework from which the students were empowered to continue on their own.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd_legacy/178"],"dc:subject":["ETD","Paulo Freire","Banking education","Critical pedagogy","Curriculum and Instruction","Curriculum and Social Inquiry","Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research","Educational Methods"],"dc:title":["Putting Critical Theory into Practice through Action Research"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation (restricted to Georgia Southern)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:28:00Z"}